Vatican envoy sacked over child sex probe

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – The Vatican’s envoy to the Dominican Republic has been sacked amid an investigation in Rome into accusations he had sex with children, a spokesman was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Monsignor Josef Wesolowski, a 65-year-old Pole, has been the papal nuncio in Santo Domingo for over five years, the I.Media news agency on Vatican affairs reported quoting the spokesman.

The Dominican press said the diplomat had sex for money with underage boys in the “Zona colonial”, the historic centre of Santo Domingo.

The cleric was ordained in 1972 by the then archbishop of Krakow, cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who later became pope John Paul II.

John Paul II appointed him nuncio to Bolivia, his first posting. Wesolowski also worked in several countries in Central Asia and was appointed to the Dominican Republic by Benedict XVI in 2008.

Pope Francis has vowed to crack down against abuse in the Catholic Church, reiterating the zero-tolerance approach eventually taken up by his predecessor Benedict XVI following a wave of revelations.